Teaching For Success by Nikki

Teaching For Success by Nikki - August 2017 Scholarship Essay

Being a student for the last two decades can give guidance into who and what a person wants to do with their life. Everyone starts out with the basics of numbers, then letters, moving towards spelling, and on to more difficult topics as they advance in the school career. How does one think of their career path at four years old? Who are the people that mold the minds of the next generations to come? The answers to these questions are quite simple. Teachers are the ones who are responsible for the sculpture of the next generations. Teachers can influence a child, adolescent, or adult to be who they are meant to be and succeed at it. But there can be many downfalls through that journey for the teacher and student. Downfalls can be that one thing someone has been waiting for to find their niche. That is why I want to be a college professor.
I have been a nursing student for the past 3 years. I did not always want to do that. I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to help mold the future. Being from South Dakota, the salary of a teacher is so little that is drastically changed my mind. I decided to try something new and head to nursing school. It took years for me to find my niche in nursing. I was getting so nervous that the end was near and I had no idea how I could fit in to the nursing would since nothing was peaking my interest. It took a major downfall for me to realize who I am meant to be.
We all know nursing school is one of the hardest programs to accomplish in the United States. I was witnessing it first hand. My whole journey through nursing school was a struggle with ADD, comprehension, focus, understanding, and so much more. I couldn’t quite figure it out. This is when the “worst day of my life” as I liked to call it happened.
The last quarter I was in was one of the hardest. We were learning about the heart, juggling one hundred and twenty hours of clinicals and testing every other day. I struggled immensely. It came to the end of the quarter and low and behold, I failed. It was the most devastating day for me. Five out of ten students failed that class that quarter. At National American University, the student has to wait until that quarter is being held again in order to reapply in hopes to get back in. That quarter is coming up in December 2017.
I have taken over 100 assignments and tests based on the remediation program. I have hit the books harder than ever, studying, grading, finding testing strategies, and new studying skills. Doing this has made me realize what I have been looking for this whole time. I am meant to be a nursing instructor. This was my niche. It took the biggest downfall I have had in my nursing school career to realize that I am going to make goals of Graduate School and continue my education to be a nursing instructor. I want to teach students that it is okay to fail. I want to give out strategies and help nursing students through this tough process. I want to share my story and have it be looked at as successful.
All in all, I have been through such a whirlwind in 2017 from failing nursing school to finding the key to success. I am ready to finish my registered nursing degree next August and receive experience in order to enter Graduate School and be the best nursing instructor I can be to the future nurses in this world. It took something very drastic for me to realize that I need to be something in this world and I need to be something that I can be happy doing. So to answer the scholarship question, if I was a college professor, what class would I teach and why? I would teach nursing because this is my calling and I will be successful.